Current Affairs | All stories

Around two thousand people filled in the main square in Jihlava on Thursday evening to welcome home the only Czech gold medallist from the Olympic Games in Rio: judoka Lukáš Krpálek. The 25-year old Jihlava native won in the under-100kg division in Rio and clinched the Czech Republic’s first-ever Olympic judo medal.

After a gap of 27 years, the Czech Republic will soon once again have an ambassador in Cuba, Foreign Minister Lubomír Záoralek has just announced. Ties between the two countries cooled with the advent of democracy in the then Czechoslovakia, but in the last couple of years Prague has been making great efforts to improve relations with the communist state. I asked the director of the Institute for International Relations, Petr Kratochvíl, why the change had come about at this point in time.

This week, Prague is hosting the seventeenth edition of the annual Nine Gates festival of Czech-German-Jewish culture. The event, which got underway on Wednesday, takes place at Prague’s Bubny railway station, where during World War II Czech Jews boarded trains to concentration and death camps. This year, the festival focuses on a lesser-known chapter in the history of WWII: Shanghai’s role in sheltering thousands of European Jews.

Long queues have been forming at Prague Castle recently after security was beefed up at the popular tourist site. Now it has been intensified further with the introduction of walk-through metal detectors. Officials say the measure protects visitors, though critics say less obtrusive approaches could be taken.

Motorists who commute to Prague have long gotten used to being able to park for free in parts of Prague 5 and 6 nearest the city centre. As of this Wednesday, that has changed. Blue zones prepared months ago have now come into effect – reserving parking largely for paying residents.

Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka gave a detailed outline on Monday of the foreign policy challenges faced by the Czech Republic and European Union. The remarks came as part of an annual address to the country’s ambassadors, which took place at the Czernin Palace headquarters of the Czech Foreign Ministry.

The Czech stand-up comedy tradition is a young one but over the last decade, largely thanks to HBO Czech Republic’s Na stojáka series, excellent talent has emerged, including now household names like Iva Pazderková and Lukáš Pavlásek. Increasingly, comedians from abroad are also including the Czech Republic on tour. On Tuesday, one of the biggest names in the business, American comedian Louis C.K., will perform at Prague’s Rudolfinum.

Czech far-right political activist Martin Konvička staged a highly controversial publicity stunt in Prague’s Old town Square on Sunday afternoon. He and a group of followers decided to stage their interpretation of an Islamic State “invasion” of the Czech Republic. The so-called “performance” caused panic among a number of tourists, who believed a terrorist incident was unfolding.

The 14th annual Czech Winegrower of the Year competition culminated in a gala ceremony held in Prague’s Žofín on Thursday evening. A jury of international wine experts evaluated a set of six wines from dozens of winemakers, the aim being to recognize all-round wine-making capabilities. 604 samples were tasted in total, with the overall winner, Bzenec chateaux winery in far eastern Moravia, scoring a unanimous victory from the judges. I spoke with Ivo Dvořák, chairman of the jury, and began by asking him to explain the state of the current Czech

Foundation Charter 77 has started raising money for a bell to honour the late president Václav Havel on the fifth anniversary of his death in December of this year. The Bell for Havel project will send thirty small bells around the world bearing a message of remembrance and gratitude. They will eventually return to Prague to be sold in an auction. The money raised, together with contributions from individuals, will be used to cast a bell named Václav which will be placed at the Church of St. Havel in downtown Prague. I asked Evžen Hart from Foundation